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These Jazzmen of Our Time
British book of essays on American jazz musicians, by Raymond Horricks, Alun Morgan, Max Harrison, Charles Fox, Benny Green, Ed Michel, Nat Hentoff, and Martin Williams.
236 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1959
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About the author
Raymond Horricks
24 booksRaymond Horricks is a biographer, writer, and independent record producer.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 13, 2021
I picked up this UK-only collection of essays on a recent trip to England. It's valuable in some ways and very flawed in others; my four-star rating is on the generous side, probably.
Since the book is so obscure in the US, I wanted to list the subjects and authors of the thirteen essays:
Thelonious Monk (Raymond Horricks)
Miles Davis (Alun Morgan)
J.J. Johnson (Horricks)
Gerry Mulligan (Max Harrison)
Bud Powell (Horricks)
Gil Evans (Charles Fox)
Milt Jackson (Horricks)
John Lewis (Benny Green)
Max Roach and Art Blakey (Horricks)
Jimmy Giuffre (Ed Michel)
Dave Brubeck (Horricks)
Charles Mingus (Nat Hentoff)
Gigi Gryce (Horricks)
Sonny Rollins (Martin Williams)
Quincy Jones (Horricks)
I won't comment too much on the individual essays, except that I found the chapters on Gil Evans, J.J. Johnson, and Gigi Gryce particularly enlightening. In general, the I found the British writers to be overly judgmental. Benny Green's essay on John Lewis actually made me a little angry; I thought he largely missed the point of Lewis's music.
But Gigi Gryce was an important minor figure who never received his due, and that makes the interview included a welcome addition. The longest chapter is on Quincy Jones. That may seem surprising to those of us who think of Jones primarily as a pop producer, but when this book came out he was very much a jazz composer/arranger - and a fine one, as I reminded myself by listening to some of his early work after finishing this book.
Probably for the hardest-core of hard-core jazz fans only - but I enjoyed this one, warts and all.
Since the book is so obscure in the US, I wanted to list the subjects and authors of the thirteen essays:
Thelonious Monk (Raymond Horricks)
Miles Davis (Alun Morgan)
J.J. Johnson (Horricks)
Gerry Mulligan (Max Harrison)
Bud Powell (Horricks)
Gil Evans (Charles Fox)
Milt Jackson (Horricks)
John Lewis (Benny Green)
Max Roach and Art Blakey (Horricks)
Jimmy Giuffre (Ed Michel)
Dave Brubeck (Horricks)
Charles Mingus (Nat Hentoff)
Gigi Gryce (Horricks)
Sonny Rollins (Martin Williams)
Quincy Jones (Horricks)
I won't comment too much on the individual essays, except that I found the chapters on Gil Evans, J.J. Johnson, and Gigi Gryce particularly enlightening. In general, the I found the British writers to be overly judgmental. Benny Green's essay on John Lewis actually made me a little angry; I thought he largely missed the point of Lewis's music.
But Gigi Gryce was an important minor figure who never received his due, and that makes the interview included a welcome addition. The longest chapter is on Quincy Jones. That may seem surprising to those of us who think of Jones primarily as a pop producer, but when this book came out he was very much a jazz composer/arranger - and a fine one, as I reminded myself by listening to some of his early work after finishing this book.
Probably for the hardest-core of hard-core jazz fans only - but I enjoyed this one, warts and all.
Displaying 1 of 1 review